Room planner



ilnited States Fatent C i ROOM PLANNER Orin J. Schwieger, 77 Ogden St.,Denver, Colo.

Filed June 3, 1957, Ser. No. 663,209

1 Claim. (Cl. 3553) home, this may mean laborious rearrangement of thefurniture already present only to find that the new plan is worse thanthe old and that everything mustbe moved back again. Even more of aproblem, however, is that of selecting furniture for the home from adisplay in a large showroom where it has been carefully placed andaccented to present the best appearance. Most'people assume that thesame decor will prevail in the homethat was found in. the showroom; but,as is too often the: case, the furniture chosen does not fit properly inthe room nor does it look well with the other pieces. This unfortunatecircumstance frequently results in the furniture being returned to thestore with the resultant expense connected with such a transaction.

Many decorators and furniture salesmen, when faced with this problem,have found that it is best to suggest the proper furniture arrangementsafter seeing the customers home and becoming acquainted with anypeculiarities associated therewith. Even in this situation, however, thecustomer may dislike the decorators choices when he or she sees them inthe home. As a result various decorators aids have been developed toassist the decorator or salesman in showing the customer a number ofpossible choices and a variety of room arrangements prior to making thefinal selections.

These prior art devices, however, have a number of disadvantages andlimitations that render them unsatisfactory for the purpose intended.Many of them are quite complicated to use and too expensive for theaverage home owner. Others become easily disarranged and do not presentan accurate representation of the furnished room. Still others are bulkyand inconvenient.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention toprovide a decorators aid that produces an accurate representation of afurnished room.

A second object is to provide a room planner which includes a number ofminiature furniture models of different types and styles that can beshifted and set upon a room plan to simulate a full-scale furniturearrangement.

Another object is the provision of miniature three-dimensional furnituremodels scaled to indicate the actual finished appearance of a room whenplaced on a plan thereof.

An additional object is to provide magnetic scale models of furnituredesigns and a display device for the models which cooperates therewithto produce a small, compact, portable, versatile, accurate and easilyrearranged room decorating plan.

Further objects are to provide a room planner that is Patented June 21,1960 colorful, simple, inexpensive, lightweight and decorative inappearance.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed outspecifically hereinafter in connection with the description of thedrawing that follows, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the room planner of the present inventionshowing it open, a room plan and furniture arrangement on one sidethereof, and other furniture models stored on the other side;

Figure Qis a section taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3- is a section taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4' is a fragmentary section taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1showing the detachable hinge .construction to an enlarged scale;

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan view of the hinge; and,

Figure 6 is an exploded view to an enlarged scale showing one of thefurniture models in elevation and top and bottom plan.

Referring now to the drawing, the room planner of the present invention,indicated in a general way 'by numeral 10, will be seen to include a box12 comprising two sections 14 and 16 detachably connected to one anotherby hinges 18. Section 14 of the box-has a bot- 1 tom 20, sidewalls 22and 24, endwalls 26 and a ferrous metal plate 28 over the top. One part30 of a twopart hasp is attached to sidewall 22; whereas, one part 32 ofconventional twopart separable hinge 18 is at. tached to opposite endsof sidewall 24. Section 16 also includes a bottom 34, sidewalls 36 and38, endwalls 40, and a partial ferrous metal plate 42. Plate 42 issupported on strips 44 in spaced relation to the bottom and adjacent oneendwall 40 to provide a pocket 46 sized to receive a plurality of sheets48 having grids 50 imprinted thereon. Endwall 36 is provided with theother part 52 of the two-part hinge 18 which forms the means by whichsections 14 and 16 are detachably connected to one another. The otherpart 54 of the hasp is attached to sidewall 38 of section 16 in positionto cooperate with element 30 thereof and hold the box closed. Moldings56 are positioned on top of plate 42 to provide a finished appearancealong the edges thereof.

The partial plate 42 is spaced below the rim or upper edge of section 16a distance at least equal to the height of furniture models 58 whichinclude small permanent magnets 60 that form a base and provide themeans by which said models are attached to plates 42 and 28. The grid 50is laid cit to a definite scale such as, for example, a quarter inch tothe foot so that the user can lay out a plan 62 of a specific room inthe home thereon, as shown in Figure 1. The models 58 are cut to thesame. scale as the grids and shapedto represent common furnituredesigns. Although the different types and styles of furniture may varyan inch or two in overall dimensions, it is well known that mostmanufacturers maintain a relatively uniform size relationregardless ofstyle; therefore, the models provide an accurate scale representation offull-sized furniture when placed on the room plan that has been laid outon the grid of sheet 48. The models represent all the common furnituredesigns including chairs, sofas, end tables, lamp tables, coffee tables,dining room suites, bedroom furnishings, etc., and are stored on partialplate 42 of section 16 to which they are magnetically attached. Thesheet 48 on which niture can be changed and rearranged at will on theplan until the desired eifect' is achieved; whereupon, fullsized tpieces:nf ifurtniture may'the selected :for the room with full confidence thatthey will fit and pnoyidea sdecorative appearance.

It is important to :note that the magnetic models will remain inany'desired :position within :thejplanhecanse of the demons metal plateunderneath. Thus, :there is .no problem of the models shitting orfalling gotrf .the plan as-in the prior art device. Also,thethree-dimensional appearance provided by the models presents .a moreaccurate .representatim of the @IIOQHI and furnishings therein than canbe achieved with models that lie in substantially ,the same plane as the:sheet on which they are placed as is true with the conventional roomplanners. Further, ,the pocket in section 16 beneath ,par-

tial plate 42 affords .a convenient place onwhich to store extra sheetsand a ruler whiletthe plate provides a place to store the models whennot in use. Finally, thedetachableconnection between sections 14 and 16allows sec tion 14 to .he removed along with the plan and models thereonso that they can be easily carried andcornpared from .difierentlocations with the actual room :being decorated. The boX, when closedand locked by hasp 30, forms a handy, compact and decorative carryingcase within which the models are firmly attached to one of the platesand the sheets are securely held the pocket.

Y Having ,thus described the several useful and novel features oftheroom planner of ,thepresent invention, it will be seen that the manyobjects for which it was designed have been achieved. Although theinvention has been described in connection with the single specific formthereof. shown in the accomp ny ng drawi g I realize that certainchanges and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art withinthe broad teaching hereof; hence, it is my intention that the scope ofprotection afforded hereby shall be limited only insofar as saidlimitations are expressly set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A room planner, comprising: a box having a bottom, sidewalls, endwallsanda lid, tone-part of a two-part separable hinge element attached toone of the sidewalls with the other part attached to the lid to providemeans for detachably connecting said lid to the box, a first metal plateattached between the sidewalls in spaced relation to the bottom, lid andone endwall -to-forrn a. pocket, at least one planning sheet within thepocket on which is printed a. grid scaled to assist in laying out a roomplan, a second metal plate of a size sufficient to receive a planningsheet in its entirety attached to the underside of the lid when closedin spaced ,face-towface relation to the first plate, and a plurality ofmodels representing pieces of furniture sized to the samescale as.thegrid, each model having .a permanent magnet attached thereto forattaching said models on the first plate for storage and for arrangingand attaching said models to a room: plan drawn on a planning sheet laid,upjon thesecond plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,127,047 Pinney Aug. .16, 1938 2,254,498 Schart ,Sept. ,2, 19412,317,124 Adams Apr. 20, 1943 2,489,779 Horton et al. Nov. ,29, 19492,528,211 Civkin et.a1. Oct. '31, 19

